The man, the legend, Ronnie James Dio, passed away on Sunday, May 16th, 2010. Thank you, Ronnie, for the decades of memories. 67 years just doesn’t seem like enough...
Outpouring Since His Passing
I have received email from a great number of people since Ronnie passed. Some from old friends of Ronnie’s, others from long-time fans. I have greatly enjoyed hearing from people who knew him or loved his music. Between that and reading all the stories, tributes, etc., I’ve definitely had my thought confirmed that Ronnie’s legacy will never die. His influence is tremendous and far reaching. I’m going to occasionally post tributes or items that catch my attention, or that are sent to me. I’ll put them just below here for now, then eventually on a separate tribute page. I’d like to thank everyone who has emailed me. Anyone who wants to share an old story, photo, etc., I’d love to hear from you!
So far:
The Homemade Jam did a tribute show to Dio. The podcast is available here. They played some Elf tunes, as well as later music.
A nice memory of Ronnie: The first time I heard Ronnie sing was at the Oddfellows Hall in Watertown, NY. He was singing "Young Girl,” the Gary Puckett song. He sang it better than the original! Back in the early 70's, I played bass with a band called "Wool." We played at many of the same clubs/venues that Ronnie and his many incarnations played. Every so often, Ronnie, Gary or Doug would stop by and sit in, and vice versa...I recall an epic night at The Bank in Cortland where Gary (RIP) came up and did a blistering solo on the drums! They were special years and Ronnie was always a kind, generous and amazingly talented guy...I'll never forget him...Steve Behm
On a very special episode of Hard Rock Nights, airing May 21-27, tribute will be paid to the voice of heavy metal, Ronnie James Dio. The two-hour episode will feature music spanning the late singer’s career, from the oldies of the 1960s to his last studio release with Heaven and Hell. Several special guests will appear on the program to share memories of Dio, including Ron Keel, Tommy Denander, Robert Sarzo of Hurricane, former bandmates Rowan Robertson and Tracy G, touring member Chuck Garric, and many others. Hard Rock Nights is a weekly syndicated radio program broadcast on several rock and metal stations on the FM dial and the internet. Visit http://hardrocknights.wordpress.com/affiliates for a full list of stations and times.
Ralph Miller, who graduated a year ahead of Ronnie at Cortland High, sent me this photo of Ronnie and his local Moose Baseball team. He tells me that Nick Pantas is on Ronnie’s left in the photo. Thanks for the photo, Ralph!
Many rock stars have come out with statements about Ronnie. But I thought this one from Lars Ulrich of Metallica was particularly poignant.
Mike Donohue took a short pilgrimage to Cortland to leave some flowers by the Dio Way street sign. He wasn’t the only one. He sent me some pictures. Mike also sent me an article about Ronnie from the Cortland Standard that was a good read.
Randall Mulvane sent me a recent pic he shot of Ronnie (the thumbs-up shot below). He wanted to share it with everyone. You can see the full version here.
Welcome to Padavona.com, formerly the Dio-The Early Years website.
What Is My Connection to Dio, and How Did I Come to Make this Site?
I’m asked often about my connection to the early days of Ronnie (am I from the Cortland area, did I ever see the Red Caps in concert, etc.) and how I got everything for this site. So, I decided to post the story here on the site. Enjoy, because it’s riveting stuff.
The Name Controversy
When I settled on Padavona.com for the name of this site, I wanted to be sure of the spelling. Out came the Elf CD, and sure enough, the insert spelled it p-a-d-a-v-o-n-a. Then I glanced at the print on the actual disk: p-a-d-o-v-o-n-a. What?? So I went to Google. Sure enough, about half the references used pada... and the other half pado. I even saw Padovana.
I decided, based on certain sources, that Padavona was the correct spelling. Mainly because I found what I am almost certain is his son online, and that's how it was spelled. So there you have it. The one-day controversy.
The Early Years on iTunes!
**NEW** (4/13/10) - I got an email from Joey Niji the other day asking about a couple Bobby Comstock songs. Apparently, RJD sang backup on a couple of them. (I have since had it confirmed by Fabian M. that it was only one of Bobby’s songs). Others of his songs appear on CD collections of music from the Syracuse area along with some of the old Red Caps tunes. Anyway, I thought I’d check iTunes, and sure enough, you can get it there. The song is I Can’t Help Myself, and it is definitely our man Ronnie backing him up. Bobby Comstock was a connection I hadn’t heard of before, but I found an old interview with him where he mentions briefly that he played guitar “on a few of Ronnie Dio’s early things.” (Interview here.) Anyway, here are links to purchase the two songs:
I Can’t Help Myself:
Gonna Make It Alone and Swingin' Street are available for purchase on iTunes. Click the button below to purchase it. If enough of us buy these, maybe more will be released. The songs are really cleaned up and sound great! (These are links to the US iTunes Store.)
Gonna Make It Alone/Swingin' Street:
A reader also pointed me to two additional songs now available on iTunes:
Our Year/Mr. Misery:
This same reader also pointed me to a CD that has Oop-Poo-Pah-Doo and Love pains. The CD is called That'll Flat Git It Vol 4. Here is the Amazon.com link.
Bittorrent
Get the music with Bittorrent! I'm going to give this a shot and see if it works. I had the music posted on the Demonoid torrent tracker. I think anyone can download them with any bittorrent program. Download the torrent and grab all the files (you might need to do a right-click save-as to grab the torrent). Then, PLEASE help seed it so we can get it to as many people as possible. If this doesn't work, I'll try something else. Drop me a note using the contact form and let me know whether or not it works for you.
